welter

1 of 3

verb

wel·​ter ˈwel-tər How to pronounce welter (audio)
weltered; weltering ˈwel-t(ə-)riŋ How to pronounce welter (audio) ; welters

intransitive verb

1
a
: writhe, toss
also : wallow
b
: to rise and fall or toss about in or with waves
2
: to become deeply sunk, soaked, or involved
3
: to be in turmoil

welter

2 of 3

noun (1)

1
: a state of wild disorder : turmoil
2
: a chaotic mass or jumble
a bewildering welter of data

welter

3 of 3

noun (2)

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The History of Welter

Welter can be used both as a noun (meaning "turmoil" or "chaos") and a verb. The verb is the older of the two; it has been part of English since at least the 1300s, while the earliest uses of the noun date from the late 1590s. Both noun and verb have roots related to Dutch and Germanic terms meaning "to roll," and both have found a place in historical English literature. The verb helps demonstrate extreme despair in the early Arthurian legend Morte Arthure ("He welterys, he wristeles, he wrynges hys handes!"), and in 1837 Thomas Carlyle used the noun in The French Revolution ("I leave the whole business in a frightful welter: … not one of them understands anything of government").

Examples of welter in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
In the streaming space, beyond the bigger players, India speaks a welter of languages and most of these are well catered to by small specialist streamers. Patrick Frater, Variety, 1 Mar. 2024 The first weekend of the new year and following a welter of Christmas-New Year releases, the latest weekend represented a reordering of holdover titles, rather than a session with an injection of significant fresh movies. Patrick Frater, Variety, 8 Jan. 2024 More technically adroit than visually or conceptually engaging, these examples of the Light and Space genre are each shown individually on a welter of some two dozen pedestals, like an expensive display of decorative accessories. Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2022 From the first Hamas gunshot on October 7, the Internet became a welter of hatreds, scuttering across mainstream and extremist platforms. CBS News, 5 Nov. 2023 Top Indian actor and emerging producer Taapsee Pannu is on a tear with a welter of projects lined up. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 13 Oct. 2023 In the dimly lighted room, testimony about the hardships of crossing Mexico toward the U.S. border is delivered in what sounds like a welter of voices. Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2023 The best way to get a handle on this divine welter is to take a walking tour. David Laskin Martin Pauer, New York Times, 1 May 2023 In recent years, there has been a welter of developments in the U.F.O. world that has brought the subject out of the realm of science fiction and supermarket tabloids, and into the halls of Congress and the pages of newspapers of record. Chris Wiley, The New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'welter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English welteren, weltryn "to turn over, tumble, writhe, take unrestrained pleasure (in)," frequentative derivative of welten "to topple, overturn, fall over," by-form (perhaps from a Germanic weak verb *waltjan-) of walten "to turn over, upend, be overturned, cast, throw, surge," going back to Old English -wæltan (in gewæltan "to roll"), going back to a Germanic verbal base *walt-, *welt- "roll," found in a variety of attested formations (as Old English awyltan "to roll away," unwealt "steady," Middle High German walzen "to roll over," Old Icelandic velta [strong verb, intransitive] "to roll, roll over," velta [transitive] "to set rolling," Gothic waltjan "to surge against [of waves]," uswaltjan "to overturn"), going back to Indo-European *u̯el-d-, extended form of *u̯el(H)- "roll," whence, with various vowel grades and stem formations, Old Irish fillid "(s/he) bends, turns back" (< *u̯el-n-), Old Church Slavic valiti sę "to roll (intransitive)," Lithuanian veliù, vélti "to full (cloth), roll," Greek eiléō, eileîn "wind, turn round, roll up" (< *u̯el-né-), íllō, íllein in same sense (< *u̯i-u̯l-ō), Armenian glem "to roll"

Note: The Middle English verb is paralleled by Middle Dutch welteren and Middle Low German weltern, which Oxford English Dictionary, first edition, regards as the source of the English word. — Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2. Auflage (Wiesbaden, 2001), enters two etyma, *u̯el- "to turn, roll" (drehen, rollen) and *u̯elH- "to roll, seethe" (wälzen, wallen), presumably on the grounds that Lithuanian vélti, with acute intonation, would suggest a laryngeal, while there is no suggestion of a laryngeal in Greek eiléō, etc. For present purposes, etyma with the meaning "seethe, bubble" are treated separately, under well entry 2. Also treated under *u̯el- in the Lexikon are verbs showing an extension with a semi-vowel, *u̯el-u̯-, which are covered here at wallow entry 1. Additionally, there are stems ending in a velar, *u̯el-k-/*u̯el-gh- "to roll"; these are covered here at walk entry 1. All of these elements, as well as many nominal formations, are treated as extensions of a single root *u̯el- in J. Pokorny, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch.

Noun (1)

derivative of welter entry 1

Noun (2)

by shortening

First Known Use

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun (1)

1596, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1900, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of welter was in the 14th century

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Dictionary Entries Near welter

Cite this Entry

“Welter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/welter. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

welter

1 of 2 verb
wel·​ter ˈwel-tər How to pronounce welter (audio)
weltered; weltering -t(ə-)riŋ How to pronounce welter (audio)
1
: to twist or roll one's body about
2
: to rise and fall or toss about in or with waves
3
: to become deeply sunk or bogged down
weltered in misery

welter

2 of 2 noun
1
: a state of wild confusion
2
: a confused jumble
a welter of information

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